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Does anyone have a recommendation for workbook-type-book that would be useful for a student who is either older and/or been playing for several years, but has basically no grasp or understanding of any music theory? I have recently inherited a couple students in this category, (for example, one is in Alfred level 6, and can feel out a "C" chord, but has no idea *how* to find other chords, or how they are related, etc.) I'm gradually teaching/explaining these concepts, but I think it would be a lot more beneficial if I could have something concrete/pre-written, that they could go home and work on and answer questions to reinforce what they're learning.

I'm aware of college-type textbooks, and obviously there are the 6-8 theory books that would go along with a method book, but is there something that's like... in the middle?

My wife was a music therapy major so she had the usual college theory texts.

I read through them, and I understood what I read, but none of it stuck.

Then I ended up running a praise & worship team, and suddenly I had to interpret lead sheets, add chords to melodies, add piano parts to guitar tab, spell chords as needed (what is D2?), transpose, etc. I didn't need deep theory, but what I did need was applied immediately. Now there was a purpose, and it all made sense. Theory was part of how we made music rather than an intellectual exercise.

I don't know if there's a text for that, but the "How to play from a leadsheet" book did help. Referring back to the theory texts when I had a specific question or need was more practical than trying to learn it all and never apply most of it.

Good points; I don't disagree that it's hard to remember stuff like this when you don't have an immediate use for it. And leadsheets are a great idea - I've already started doing a tiny bit of that with one of the students.

Now... I'm not even talking about expecting them to know what a "Neopolitan 6th" is or whatever, but rather just what (I think!) is relatively basic stuff... how to know what key you are in based on a key signature, how to find the I, IV, and V7 chords in any key, what the "pattern" is to find any major scale, how a relative minor is related to its major, etc. So basically just the stuff that you would learn in any method series' theory books.

I regularly use the "Basics of Keyboard Theory" by Julie McIntosh Johnson. They are graded into 10 levels, and there is also a "guide to AP theory" available. I haven't looked at the "guide to AP theory yet".

I prefer to make my own worksheets and handouts, since I find most graded theory books to be highly inadequate. Some of them contain errors!

Once you make a good worksheet, you can scan it and save it in pdf. Electronic versions of worksheets allow you to be more organized.

I agree that would be a good option. However it is also possible to supplement a theory text with some worksheets and provide solid training. I think that ditching the theory text altogether would increase teacher workload.

laguna_greg
1000 Post Club Member
Registered: 04/02/13
Posts: 1505
Loc: guess where in CA and WA

Frankly, I find that all the 'adult-theory" books are pretty awful. At the very least, they usually insult the intelligence of the adult student. They often miss the point about functional listening and harmony, and the exercises are often useless or non-existent.

I don't use a theory textbook with my adult students. I either use very generic worksheets or create my own for what exactly they are learning. With the latter, I can modify it to help the individual student with their specific needs.

I prefer to make my own worksheets and handouts, since I find most graded theory books to be highly inadequate. Some of them contain errors!

Once you make a good worksheet, you can scan it and save it in pdf. Electronic versions of worksheets allow you to be more organized.

I agree that would be a good option. However it is also possible to supplement a theory text with some worksheets and provide solid training. I think that ditching the theory text altogether would increase teacher workload.

In the long run AZN's approach would save time. It takes more time to continually fix things, add things that are missing.

The idea of condensing is totally the wrong way to go. Get solid materials, or create them yourself, then skip things with a fast student that do not need to be covered as many times. You can eliminate padding or boredom, but condensed books always leave things out.

I have no idea what this means. Seems as if the popular book is Alfred's, but "theory books are bad"? What does that mean, and why do teachers use it?

I don't think the theory books I use are bad. In fact, I rather like them. But they are not perfect (thus my supplemental worksheets. In response to the other post, no it's not more work this way... I don't make that many worksheets).

AP stands for Advanced Placement. These are a set of high school courses and nation-wide exams in the United States which are the equivalent of college courses. Given a sufficient score on the exam, these are often accepted for college credit.